Making Money with a Newcomers Welcome ServiceBy Liz Folger, Founder of bizymoms

There is one business that I know for a fact won’t go out of style or not be needed in the coming years if only for the simple fact that people are always on the move. In the last 10 years I’ve moved far more times than I would ever want to admit. Each time I found myself in a new town, I was lost. I had no idea where anything was, where the hangouts were, or what businesses were in the area. I’d always slowly find these things out, but it took time.

How nice it would have been to sign-up for a free service where someone would come to my house, tell me about the new community I had just moved into, and give me a packet of goodies that included coupons, gift certificates, maps etc. That would have saved me a lot of time, and given me a good overview of what to expect in my new town.

Owning your own newcomers welcoming service can be very rewarding. Not only will you be able to make a newcomer feel welcomed and informed, but you can also help local businesses by acquainting them with their future customers. It’s a big win-win situation for you. Perfect if you like making everyone happy.

To run a welcome business you simply talk with local businesses in your area. You explain to them that you will give newcomers who just moved to the community a welcome packet, and you ask if they would like to be included. They might want to give you a special coupon or a gift certificate to include in your welcome packets.

You then decide how you want to have these flyers and coupons printed. You can decide to do it yourself, work with your local printer, or make copies at a local copy shop. Finding these newcomers isn’t too hard either. You can hook-up with realtors and local county records to find potential clients. And, thanks to
Bizymoms Business Kits, it is now a whole lot easier to find potential new comers.

Bizymomshas created a Welcome Service Business Kit that includes everything you need to get this type of business started and running successfully. The kit starts with a workbook specifically for starting a welcome service business. Also included is a marketing ebook, a basic workbook for general business start-up, and 6 months of support. And, if that isn’t enough, you also receive a beautiful lifetime website that has a total of 5 pages. The website is yours forever, and once you pay for the kit, you won’t have to pay anything else for the site…ever.

What’s so incredible about this webpage is the fact that you will become an associate on the website which will be promoted throughout the country.
Bizymoms will also help you to find newcomers. Potential customers can visit the site, look for an associate in their area, and ask that a packet be delivered to them. It’s that easy.
If you want to learn more about this wonderful opportunity visit: Bizymoms!

How To Start A Candy Wrapping
Business

What woman doesn’t love chocolate?
Combine that with all the emails I get from moms who want to find a
business where they are able to make money with their home computer and
boy, have I got an idea for you! Chocolate + your computer = your new
home business!

If you haven’t heard about the
business of candy wrapping then let me give you a quick explanation.
This is where you take a candy bar and you design and print your own
wrapper to put over the candy bar’s original wrapper. Now you might be
wondering why would someone want to do this? Well these favors make
wonderful birthday and wedding favors. They are great for special events
and get-togethers like family reunions and retirement parties, and can
be used in fundraising events.

And it isn’t just chocolate bars that
candy wrappers are finding to wrap. They’re also wrapping lifesavers,
gum, tic-tac's, mint, and even popcorn bags. Some wrappers are even
wrapping non-food items like bubbles and matchbooks.

The skills you will need for this
business might be something you already posses. But it helps to be
creative and have some knowledge of graphics software. However, there
are lots of programs and free ready-made wrappers available on the
Internet. Customer service skills are important too. You’ll need to
market your business and there are so many great ways to get your
business name out there. A chocolate bar with your business card wrapped
around it would be a great way to get people’s attention.

Supplies:

Equipment that you might already have
is a computer, color printer, some type of graphics software, paper for
your wrappers, and in some cases you might need candy bars (sometimes
clients will provide the candy bars and you just need to sell them the
wrappers). When just starting out, scissors work great for cutting your
wrappers, but as your business grows you’ll want to look into a nice
paper cutter. You’ll also need something to stick your wrappers
together. Glue sticks or tape works great. Make sure whatever you choose
is acid free and photo safe.

Once you’re business gets rolling a
little more, you might want to invest in a scanner and/or Digital camera
if you don’t already have one. These are useful if you want to add
personal photos to your wrapper designs.

When looking for paper, candy bars,
ink etc. Try to buy in bulk. You’ll usually get a better deal and be
able to keep more of your profits if you shop wisely.

First of
all, what is a virtual
assistant (VA)? I like
to explain it as a word
processor gone wild. A
VA is someone who works
with clients, providing
them with top quality
support services without
having to be physically
present at a clients
office. VA services are
becoming more and more
popular thanks to
today’s technology such
as email, the Internet,
online instant
messaging, fax, phone,
and overnight delivery.
Gone are the days of offices
needing their
support staff in the
same building.

If you
have a secretarial
background or other
support staff expertise
and a love for computers
and all the technology
it offers, then here are
ten very good reasons
why you should start
your own VA business
this year.

1. Make
An Income You Can Live
On

It was
reported by virtual
assistant trade
organizations that the
average full-time VA
working in the US would
gross about $39,452
annually. Now that isn’t
a bad income!

That is
the type of money you
can live on, even if you
are a single mom.

2. The
Need For VA’s Is Only
Going To Get Greater

According to the George
Washington University
forecast of emerging
technology, Virtual
Assisting will become
a $130 Billion Industry
by 2008. Thanks to our
growing technology, and
the fact that it’s
easier to just source
out work to a VA due to
the fact that a business
doesn’t have to pay for
any benefits when they
out-source, this type of
service will only get
bigger and more in
demand.

3. Are
you feeling unfulfilled,
unchallenged, and
unmotivated? Is your
current corporate job
beginning to feel like a
real drag?

Are you
dreading getting dressed
up, driving your commute
to work, and working
with a boss who is
ungrateful and
unappreciative? Do you
love some parts of your
job and despise other
parts and wish you could
do the parts you love
more? Then becoming a VA
might be something you
need to look into.

4. Want
to continue your
professional working
life without having to
leave home?

Want the
flexibility to work from
home and have a better
balance between work and
life?

Maybe
you’re thinking of
having kids, or have had
your first baby. You so
want to continue your
career, but you also
want to spend more time
with your children. Take
a good hard look at the
world of a VA. This type
of home business will
continue to give you the
satisfaction of a
career, while also
offering you the ability
to be there for your
kids doctor
appointments, their
first step, school field
trips, and running them
around to after school
events.

5. Gain
the ability to work with
people you want to work
with.

Do you
tend to click with
certain types of people
more than others? With a
VA business, you can
decide who you want your
clients to be. Authors,
salespeople,
consultants, coaches,
executives,
entrepreneurs, and small
business owners are just
a few of the types of
people you could work
with.

6. The
ability to do more than
just one thing.

Looking
for a little variety in
your business? Don’t
want to get stuck doing
the same thing over and
over again? Here is a
list of just some of the
things you can do as a
VA.

Administration

Writing
services
(technical or
creative)

Business/employee
communications

Proofreading
and editing,
research (online
or traditional)

Word-processing

Spreadsheets

Data entry

Database
management

Message
management

Scheduling

Bill paying

Simple
website design

Newsletter
distribution

Bulk mailing

Reminder
services

Event
planning

Special
projects

Concierge
services

Secretarial
services

Research

Data
processing/data
management

Desktop
publishing

Transcription
services

Mail and
email services

Telephone/fax
services

Internet
services

Bookkeeping

Purchasing
services

Writing/editing
services

Marketing
services

Personal
services

Santa
letters

Proposal
Writer

7. The
ability to Niche
yourself.

Choose
just a few of the ideas
above and take it one
step further. Niche
yourself. You might
already possess
knowledge in a certain
area. You can contact
those businesses you are
already familiar with
and work with them.
Maybe in the past you
had worked as support
staff for a marketing
company. If marketing is
your thing, you can let
businesses know that you
can not only be their VA
and take care of all
their typing and
database applications,
but that you can also
use your expertise to
help them market their
business.

8. Use
the equipment you
already have.

If
you’re reading this
article, then there’s a
good chance you already
have a computer, a
printer, and fax
capabilities. Why not
start putting that
equipment to good use
and make some money?

9. The
choice between working
full-time or part-time.

Maybe
you don’t want to work
full time, but you need
to do something to call
your own. That’s great!
You’ll be your own boss;
you can decide how much
or how little you want
to work.

10.
Being able to say you
love the way you make
money.

If just
the thought of working
with your computer and
current technology makes
you giddy, why not make
money doing something
you love? Grab hold of
the opportunity to make
as much money as you’d
like and the ability to
work from your home.
You have the opportunity
to decide who you want
to work with, the type
of work you want to do
or not do, and your
niche area. If this
sounds like the perfect
opportunity for you
visit *** to learn more
about starting your own
Virtual Assistant
Business.

Here
is a home business recipe for starting an online
Gift Basket Business that is easier than you think.
Never before has it been so easy to get a professional
quality, custom Gift Baskets website for yourself.

Each package includes your own merchant account and payment
gateway for a truly complete and seamless ecommerce
solution. Choose from 5 distinct packages.

You get all the tools you need to add or edit all your gift
baskets without having to know anything about the technical
aspects of the web.

Our Gift baskets websites are designed to be as flexible and
customizable as possible. Almost anything you want to do can
be accomplished in a multiple of ways to ensure that your
site
is up to date. We backup our service with the most
comprehensive
client support & service available anywhere.
If there is something
you can't figure out how to do, just
ask us for help and we'll be happy to show you and in many
cases do it for you. We provide
24 hour email support to all
our clients.
Home
Business Recipe for starting an online Gift Basket Business.

How To Write A Winning Grant Application In One Evening!

Are you looking to start a home business? Do you have a
great idea but lack the cash to get started? A business grant
can be essential to lifting your venture off the ground. Learn

Recently, I
came across a unique opportunity ... in which people all over
the country are quietly receiving merchandise and services for
FREE!

Have you heard about mystery shoppers? Do you know you can get
some fabulous FREE perks as a mystery shopper?
Would
you like to know the detailed mechanics of becoming a mystery shopper?

A 500 MILLION Dollar Business ... And Growing
In spite of being a 500 million dollar business, mystery
shopping is still one of the best kept secrets in the
industry.

Hundreds of concerned companies will gladly pay to have a
responsible person shop in their stores (or use their services),
in return for an unbiased evaluation of their business. And the
best part about being a mystery shopper is you can "take or
leave" assignments as you see fit!

It's Easy To Be A Mystery Shopper

All you have to do is register with the companies that hire and
place mystery shoppers, then sit back and wait for your phone to
ring with your assignments.

And to make it even easier, You can find complete step-by-step
details in an easy to follow eBook entitled, "How To Be A
Mystery Shopper."

If You Want To Start Your Own Catering Business, You
Will Love This Guide! Are you passionate about working
with food? Do you live to help others? Now you can realize your
dream by Starting Your Own Catering Business! The Starting a
Catering Business Start-Up Guide Kit includes all of the
necessary forms that are needed to operate a catering business
including many financial forms, example business letters and a
complete business plan. Home Business
Recipe for starting your own catering business.

BED AND BREAKFAST
THE EASIEST HOME-BASED BUSINESS

There's an exciting new "down-home" kind of business springing
up among homeowners all across the country. It's called Bed and
Breakfast.

Basically, this is a transplant of European Hospitality, adapted
and refined to the American way of doing things. To foreign
visitors, it's the comfort and hospitality of home - staying
overnight "with people of the land" and enjoying a hearty
breakfast - without the traditional gaudiness and plastic
feelings visitors get from most big cities in the United States.
To U.S. citizens, it is a welcome alternative to the same old
hotel/motel circuit.

Now, all it takes is a spare bedroom, a good cook and an
outgoing personality. Prices per night range from a low of $25
to $100 or more.

If you have an extra bedroom, a large home, or extra space in
your farm house, you have the necessary beginnings to start
making extra income as a Bed and Break fast Inn. One of the
beautiful aspects of this idea is that so long as you're hosting
"over night visitors" on a small scale, no licenses will be
required. It's always best, however, to check with your local
authorities just to be sure.

Naturally, your "visitors" will expect a clean, neat and
comfortable home. So assuming that your home meets these
prerequisites, and you have a spare bedroom, simply "doll it up"
a bit. Make sure it's painted brightly, there's an outside
window, lots of room, closet space and bureau, and perhaps a
small writing desk, and a large comfortable bed, or twin beds.

Most foreign visitors will expect and appreciate a "quick tour"
of the interesting sights in your area. However, as your
particular popularity as a B & B Host grows, you'll find that a
lot of American tourists and business people on the road will
begin availing themselves of your hospitality. Certainly with
these people, it won't always be necessary to give the "Red
Carpet" visitors' treatment.

Which brings us to the basic appeal of a Bed and Breakfast Inn.
Travelers seem to be looking for, and appreciate a quiet
"home-style" place to stay. Generally, they enjoy visiting with
the people off the superhighway and want to get away from the
sterilized atmosphere and sameness of hotels and motels.

Most people will either write to you ahead of time, inquiring
about the possibilities of staying at your home while in your
town or city. This means a bit of advertising on your part, or
listing your availability with a B & B broker. Some people will
check the local telephone listings, and the newspaper
advertisements when they arrive in a strange town. And some
people will just be driving across the country, come to a town
or city they think is interesting, and start driving through the
residential areas looking for Bed and Breakfast Inns.

Thus, you should have a small sign posted either in your front
yard or on the front of your house. This sign needn't be much
more than about two feet wide by about ten inches deep. It need
only state: BED AND BREAKFAST - Inquire Within or Call 123-4567.

For newspaper advertising, a similar listing in the personal
column of your local paper, particularly on Thursdays, Fridays
and Saturdays, will be all you'll need. But when it comes to the
yellow pages of your telephone and business directories, go with
a small display ad that describes in greater detail the comforts
and pleasures of your services.

Be sure to list your services with all the travel agencies in
your area. A brochure or a short synopsis of what you offer will
most assuredly give the travel agents an idea for steering
visitors your way. At the same time, listing your services in a
number of national travel magazines - particularly those that
cater to women - will bring customers in for you.

Listing your services with a broker usually won't cost you
anything up front, but they will expect a certain percentage -
usually about 25% of the total bill. This same arrangement
applies with travel agents.

Now, suppose you're organized and ready to receive your first
customers. You greet them as host or hostess and offer to assist
them in getting situated in the room or rooms you have for them.
If they'd like to take a drive around your area and see the
points of interest, you do that. And then in the morning, serve
them a big, delicious breakfast.

You'll probably find that foreign visitors will want to stay
several days. With most people of this country who are just
traveling through your area, it'll be a one-night stopover.
Whatever, if they want to sleep comfortably through the night,
eat breakfast and be on their way, so be it. If they want to sit
around after breakfast and plan an itinerary for a complete
visit of your area, your assistance and help will be greatly
appreciated. (Remember those recommendations)!

That's it! The complete how and why of this tremendously
profitable business that's becoming more and more popular. It's
called Bed & Breakfast, and it's very definitely a low
investment idea. And you can parlay it into a very interesting
and comfortable income producing business - all from the
comforts of your own home!

House and apartment cleaning services are gaining in popularity.
These are business services that are growing in demand as a
result of more and more women seeking jobs outside the home.
Their need to supplement the family income creates the
opportunity for you to set up a lucrative business.

Ten years ago, businesses of this kind were serving only the
affluent - homes of the wealthy people where women didn't want
to be bothered with the drudgery of house hold cleaning, and had
the money to pay someone to do it for them. But times have
changed, and today the market includes many middle income
families in every residential area across the entire country.
The potential market among apartment dwellers is great also. All
in all this is a business that has grown fast, and has as much
real wealth building potential as any we can think of.

This is a cleaning service generally associated with women;
however, men are finding that they can organize, start, and
operate very profitable home and apartment cleaning businesses
just as well as women. It's an ideal business for any truly
ambitious person wanting a business of his or her own,
especially for those who must begin with limited funds.
Actually, you can start this business right in your own
neighborhood, using your own equipment, and begin making a
profit from the first day.

Many enterprising homemakers are already doing this kind of work
on a small scale as an extra income producing endeavor. There's
a growing need for this service. Organizing your efforts into a
business producing $50,000 to $100,00 a year is quite possible,
and you can get started for $100 or so, always using your
profits to expand and in crease your business.

Absolutely no experience is required. Everyone knows how to dust
the furniture, vacuum carpets, make the beds and carry out the
trash. But you must ask yourself if making a house clean and
bright is important and uplifting work. If you look on it as
degrading or as drudgery, don't involve yourself in this
business.

Starting from scratch, you'll need a telephone and an
appointment book. You also need an advertising flyer, such as
the following:

HOME OR APARTMENT CLEANING

We do the work - You relax and take it easy.
You get the best job in town, at rates you can
afford. Your satisfaction is always guaranteed!
For more details, Call Sandy: 123-4567 - at
Sandy's Cleaning Services!

You can either type this notice out or write it in
longhand with a pen. Either way, it's going to be
your first advertising endeavor, and bring in that
first customer for you.

It would be a good idea to visit your stationery
store to pick up a pad of "fade out" graph paper, a
couple of sets of transfer (rub-on) letters, a glue
stick, and if they have one, a Clip Art book.

Take these materials home and clear off your kitchen
table. Take a sheet of graph paper, and temporarily
tape the corners down on the table. Then take a
pencil and a ruler, and mark a rectangle five inches
wide by six inches long along the lines of the graph
paper. This will be the overall size of your flyer
when it's finished.

Look for a Clip Art piece depicting a harried
housewife engrossed with either cleaning tools or in
the act of running a vacuum cleaner, or some other
household chore. Cut this piece out, and with your
glue stick paste it in the upper left-hand corner of
your rectangle. Then take your transfer letters and
make the headline: HOME OR APARTMENT CLEANING.

Next, type out the body of the message on ordinary
white typing paper. Be sure to use a relatively new
ribbon, preferably a black carbon ribbon, and upper
case letters. Cut this strip out, and paste it onto
the graph paper, centered just below your headline.
Then use some transfer letters that are about twice
as large as your typewriter type, and paste up the
action part of your message: For details, call
Sandy: 123-4567. Cut out a couple of border
flourishes from your Clip Art book, paste them under
your action line, and you're ready to take it to the
printer. If you have a computer, there are many
software programs that can be used to design your
flyer. In addition, most of them also include clip
art.

In
essence, you have a professional advertising
"billboard." You can check around in your area,
especially with the advertising classes at your
local colleges, but generally they'll do no better
than you can do on your own, using the instructions
we've just given you, and they'll charge you $50 to
$100.

Once you have this advertising flyer completed, take
it to a nearby quick print shop and have about 200
copies printed. You should be able to get two copies
on a standard 8 1/2 x 11 sheet, and running 100
sheets of paper through the press is going to cost
well under $10. For just a few cents more, have the
printer cut them in half with his machine cutter, so
you will have 200 copies of the advertising flyer.

Now take these flyers, along with a box of
thumbtacks, and put them up on all the free bulletin
boards you can find - grocery stores, Laundromats,
beauty salons, office building lounges, cafeterias,
post offices, and wherever else such announcements
are allowed.

When a
prospective customer calls, have your appointment
book and a pencil handy. Be friendly and
enthusiastic. Explain what you do - everything from
changing the beds to vacuuming, dusting and
polishing the furniture and cleaning the bathroom to
the dishes and the laundry. Or, everything except
the dishes and the laundry - whatever you have
decided on as your policy.

When they ask how much you charge, simply tell them
six to ten dollars an hour, but for a firm cost
quote, you'll need to see the home and make a
detailed estimate for them. Then without much of a
pause, ask if 4:30 this afternoon would be
convenient for them, or if 5:30 would be better. You
must pointedly ask if you can come to make your cost
proposal at a certain time, or the decision may be
put off, and you may come up with a "no sale."

Just as soon as you have an agreement on the time to
make you cost proposal and marked it in your
appointment book, ask for name, address and
telephone number.

Jot this information down on a 3 by 5 card, along
with the date and the notation: Prospective
Customer. Then you file this card in a permanent
card file. Save these cards, because there are
literally hundreds of ways to turn this prospect
file into real cash, once you've accumulated a
sizeable number of names, addresses and phone
numbers.

When you go to see your prospect in person, always
be on time. A couple of minutes early won't hurt
you, but a few minutes late will definitely be
detrimental to your closing the sale. Always be well
groomed. Dress as a successful business owner. Be
confident and sure of yourself; be knowledgeable
about what you can do as well as understanding of
the prospect's needs and wants. Do not smoke, even
if invited by the prospect, and never accept a drink
- even coffee - until after you have a signed
contract in your briefcase.

Actually, once you've made the sale, the best thing
is to shake hands with your new customer, thank him,
and leave. A little small talk after the sale is
appropriate, but becoming too friendly is not. You
create an impression, and preserve it, by
maintaining a business-like relation ship.

When you go to make your cost estimate, take along a
ruled tablet such as those used by elementary school
students, carbon paper, a calculator and your
appointment book. Some people find it easier to work
with a clipboard and ordinary blank paper with
carbon. Later on, you may want to have general
checklists printed up for each room in the house,
with blank lines or space for special instructions.

Whatever you use, it's important to appear
methodical, thorough and professional, while leading
the prospect through the specifics he or she wants
you to take care of: "Now, you want the carpet
vacuumed and all the furniture dusted and those two
end tables, the coffee table and the piano polished
as well, I assume?"

Simply identify the specific room at the top of the
sheet of paper, then lead your prospect through the
cleaning steps of each room, covering everything in
it. Your implications of putting everything in
"ready for company" shape will cause the customer to
forget about the cost, and hire you to do a complete
job. Always have a carbon paper under each piece of
paper you're writing on, and always look around each
room one more time before leaving it; then ask the
prospect if he or she can think of any special
instructions you should note for that room.

Finally, when you've gone through each room in the
house with the prospect, come back to the kitchen
and sit down at the table. Take out your calculator
and add up the time you estimate each job in each
room will take to complete. Total the time for each
room.

Be liberal, thinking that if you can do the carpet
job in 15 minutes, it will usually take the ordinary
person 30 minutes. Convert the total minutes for
each room into hours and tenths of hours per room.
Add the totals for each room to arrive at your total
hours to clean the entire house.

Talk with your customer briefly, wondering how she
can ever find the time to get everything done at
home, especially when holding down a full-time job.
A little bit of small talk, a quick mental
evaluation of the customer's ability to pay, plus
your knowledge that you can get everything done in
four hours, instead of the six hours it would take
most people, and you summarize by saying: